1889: Fusajiro Yamauchi founds Nintendo Koppai in Kyoto, Japan, to manufacture hanafuda, Japanese playing cards. Western-style playing cards originally came to Japan in the 16th century with Portuguese traders, but over the ensuing three centuries a variety of different card games were created in Japan. The most popular in the late 1800s were hanafuda, cards […]
Kongō Gumi Co., Ltd. (株式会社金剛組, Kabushiki Gaisha Kongō Gumi) is a Japanese construction company, purportedly founded in 578 A.D.,[3] making it the world’s oldest documented company. The company mainly works on the design, construction, restoration, and repair of shrines, temples, castles, and cultural heritage buildings. While Kongō Gumi historically specialized in traditional architecture, increased competition from major construction companies due to the growing use of concrete in shrines and temples resulted in the company becoming a subsidiary of the Takamatsu Construction Group in January 2006.[4][5]
Here’s a list of the ten oldest companies in the world. The top five are all Japanese:
I think that the surprise is that Nintendo is as old as it is.
Japan has some very old companies. IIRC the oldest company in the world was a construction company in Japan that went under a few years ago.
kagis
Kongo Gumi. Guess I was wrong – they didn’t actually go under. Still around, but now a subsidiary of another company.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kongō_Gumi
Here’s a list of the ten oldest companies in the world. The top five are all Japanese:
https://www.worldatlas.com/industries/the-oldest-companies-still-operating-today.html
Yeah, to be clear, that was what I was intrigued by. That they existed for nearly 100 years before their rise as a video game power.